Exploring the History, Literature, and Culture of the Tar Heel State

Asheville reporter awed by Helen Keller

On this day in 1945: Helen Keller, advocate of the disabled, arrives in Asheville for a five-day tour of service hospitals.

A Citizen-Times interviewer notes that Miss Keller’s secretary and companion, Polly Thomson, “turned to her and translated the reporter’s first question by touching the palm of Miss Keller’s hand with the tips of her fingers and speaking at the same time. The amazingly alert brain, behind eyes that have been sightless since she was two years old and shut in by ears that have detected no sound for the same period, was like a thirsty sponge, grasping so eagerly for the question that only a few key words were necessary to carry the complete thought.”